Most of the current frozen purees that are available in the market are made by filling the product into a container as a puree and then frozen therein. When products formed in this manner are thawed, however, the purees have an undesirable, lumpy texture. Naturally, children, as well as adults, find products with such mouth feel and taste characteristics unappealing, and products so sold are not popular.
There is, therefore, a need for an improved technique that permits the freezing of purees and the like without the undesirable characteristics of the prior art. Low temperature freezing, in particular, e.g., slow-churn freezing, has recently been developed in ice cream technology and frozen dessert technology with a finer microstructure of air bubbles and ice crystal size. Applicant has found that using this new process, the frozen product has an improved shelf-life, better mouth feel and is more heat-shock stable. Examples of patent documents that describe the use of this new technology include U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0254180, International PCT Publication WO/20060/099,987 A1, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,596,333 and 6,890,577, all of which are assigned to Nestec, S.A., where each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
While the aforementioned techniques have been successfully applied to ice cream and dairy products for the purpose of simulating the presence of fat in a lowfat application, the presence of fat, however, is undesirble in infant and toddler foods.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0048419 (the '419 publication), generally describes a method for producing a frozen food having a texture, which is similar to that in a state before freezing, after defrosting. The flash-freezing method involves immersing at least one food material in an aqueous solution containing 1-5% salt; 2-10 wt % saccharide; and 0.1-0.5 wt % calcium salts; and freezing the immersed food material by passing it through a temperature range of 0 to −50° C. within 15 minutes to reach a temperature range of −20° C. or less. According to the inventors of the '419 publication, by applying the immersing and freezing procedures, the enzyme contained in the food materials are inactivated to retain freshness, and the growth of ice crystals, which is formed with water contained in the food material, is inhibited, thereby preventing tissue breakdown and ultimately retaining the state of the food material before freezing. The duration of freezing the food, however, as set forth in this reference, is short and rapid, i.e., 8-10 min or 12 min or less and is in the range of 0 to −5° C. and the ultimate temperature of the frozen food was −38° C. However, there is no discussion of preparing frozen infant or toddler food using a slow-churning freezing method, such as the one discussed above and proposed herein.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0105095 (now abandoned), generally discusses a process of taking organic and non-organic fruits, vegetables and meats and creating a frozen baby food product without additives or artificial sweeteners included therein. As disclosed, organic or non-organic fruits, vegetables and cooked meats are prepared and then frozen to different consistencies. Portions of the cooked material are frozen into small portions, individually packaged servings or ice-cube like form. Like the '419 publication, this reference also fails to discuss the use of a slow-churning freezing process to freeze toddler, infant or baby food pursuant to the teachings of the present invention.
Therefore, there remains a need for frozen infant and toddler foods that have improved taste and texture, such as in the frozen ice cream technology. The present invention, as discussed hereinbelow, does meet such need.